The Big Trucking Companies Want Speed Limiters on the Little Guys' Trucks

[DrivingZiggy]

5/19/2015
Speed-limiter proposal sent to White House budget office
By David Tanner, Land Line senior editor
Federal agencies sent a proposed rule on heavy-truck speed limiters to the White House Office of Management and Budget on Tuesday, May 19. Small-business truckers remain against a government mandate for the devices, saying that forcing trucks to drive slower than the normal flow of traffic will have serious unintended consequences for highway safety.


The proposed rule by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is based on a petition filed in 2006 by the American Trucking Associations and Roadsafe America to create a new standard under federal motor carrier regulations.


The petitioners and federal agencies believe that a government mandate for speed limiters on heavy trucks would reduce fatal crashes in which a truck is involved on roads with posted speed limits of 55 mph and above.


The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association continues to oppose a government mandate and says highway safety is more complex than simply capping truck speeds at or below posted speed limits or the flow of traffic.


OOIDA leadership sent a letter and a white paper on speed differentials to the Office of Management and Budget to discuss what the Association says would be a “significant negative impact on safety.”


“To the casual observer, mandating speed limiters on heavy-duty vehicles might seem like a ‘safety silver bullet.’ Professional drivers know, however, that highway safety is not so simple,” OOIDA Executive Vice President Todd Spencer wrote.


“Setting a policy in one area can have significant unintended consequences in others. OOIDA is not pushing for faster speed limits. But whatever a jurisdiction decides, the speed limit ought to be the same limit for all vehicles in order to foster a predictable, safer highway driving environment.”


During a congressional hearing in late April, U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said the federal agencies are planning to publish their notice of proposed rulemaking on heavy vehicle speed limiters in the Federal Register sometime in the fall. If that holds up, publication of the NPRM would trigger a 60-day public comment period.


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The big companies have speed limiters on their trucks. Their reasons are two-fold: insurance rates and fuel savings. For some reason, they feel that this gives those few independents who don't have the speed limiters an "unfair advantage." It doesn't make sense to me because the independents cannot compete with the low rates that the bigger carriers charge. But, I guess the big guys want all of the freight.

[Ski Hacks MG]

It's called cry baby syndrome. More people have it than you think.

[Mr. GP1800]

They should be limited to 70 MPH. Some truckers out there really drivr like ass holes and endanger everyone on the road. Any slower than that causes traffic problems.

[@JC]

They should be limited to 70 MPH. Some truckers out there really drivr like ass holes and endanger everyone on the road. Any slower than that causes traffic problems.

They should also be limited to the right lane only, no passing allowed and immediate loss of CDL and/or jail time if they do get caught in the left or middle lanes.

[Ski Hacks MG]

They should be limited to 70 MPH. Some truckers out there really drivr like ass holes and endanger everyone on the road. Any slower than that causes traffic problems.

I disagree. More 4 wheelers cause trouble than big trucks do. Truck drivers deal with a lot of shit. Some truck drivers are assholes.

[Mr. GP1800]

Yes people do drive like ass holes around trucks. I have driven a 26 foot straight truck and i almost always have an enclosed trailer behind my pickup. It baffles me how some people can be such jerks to big vehicles on the road. That said, an 80,000 pound truck should not even be allowed to go 80 mph like i see some doing.

[Mr. GP1800]

Driving a big vehicle and a vehicle with a large trailer has given me a respect for what truckers deal with. I almost always let a truck in if i see he wants or needs to move over. Someone needs to be courteous to them since most drivers arent.

[Buliwyf]

Yeah, sure. Okay.

Just as long as the huge F'n Fleet companies actually properly service and maintain their trucks safely. Rolling under their trucks is a master techs nightmare. Oh and how about giving your drivers a 3 day weekend so they can actually live their lives. Weekdays are 100% work, eat, sleep. Just two days off isn't a healthy balance.

And let's get rid of Mexican and Canadian drivers first.

And before we get strict with owner operators, maybe the fleets should stop putting broken trucks on the road. Which purposely wrecks a drivers CDL license and prevents him from going onto a better trucking company. Once you get so many mechanical citations, good companies won't hire you. And then you're trapped in a piss poor slave driver company. They can work you as hard as they want to, and pay you peanuts.

Fix the bigger safety issues with the big fleets first, then chase after some BS speed limiter for the 'lil guys. Big Fleets have NO RIGHT what-so-ever telling anyone how too be safe, or what speeds they should run. The big Fleets are the worst offenders.

A friend of mine makes $65k per year driving fleet. But I think that's only $14 an hour when it's all said and done. $16 on a good day. He'd gladly take a pay cut to have Sundays off.

[Mr. GP1800]

I worked on the docks for a large union carrier back in the 90s. Its sad that you see companies advertising on the trucks 46-49 cents per mile. The union guys were making that 20 years ago.

I think you can blame the broken trucks on the lack of union trucking companies out there these days. A union contract would never allow those kinds of vehicles to be driven. Its really sad the state of trucking these days with these guys being pushed 70 hours a week for not really great pay.

[DrivingZiggy]

Weekdays are 100% work, eat, sleep. Just two days off isn't a healthy balance.

There are very few fleets where you can get even that. The really big guys like JB Hunt, Schneider, Swift, et. al., have the situation where you "earn" one day off for every week out. Yes, you read that correctly. If you stay away from home for 2 weeks, then you can get 2 days off.

But then they have a problem getting you home. So most guys are out there 3-6 weeks at a time.

I worked on the docks for a large union carrier back in the 90s. Its sad that you see companies advertising on the trucks 46-49 cents per mile. The union guys were making that 20 years ago.

I think you can blame the broken trucks on the lack of union trucking companies out there these days. A union contract would never allow those kinds of vehicles to be driven. Its really sad the state of trucking these days with these guys being pushed 70 hours a week for not really great pay.

I began my career 20 years ago at about half that. I think I was making $.21 to start.